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Hong Kong -Asian stocks dropped on Wednesday, following a sharp fall on Wall Street over fears of a market correction and concerns the conflict in Ukraine could escalate.
Analysts cited comments by Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who said Russia had increased its military presence on the Ukraine border, suggesting the situation could deteriorate.
Tokyo's Nikkei fell 160.52 to close at 15 159.79 points, Sydney dropped 6.6 to finish at 5 512.0 points and Seoul shed 5.53 points to 2 060.73.
Hong Kong finished down 0.26 points, while Shanghai slipped 2.48 points to close at 2 217.47. Shenzhen rose 4.57 to end at 1 177.33 points.
"If Poland is indeed right that Russia is about to increase its presence in the east of Ukraine, buyers of all things risk will disappear fast as this is an indefinable outcome for markets," IG strategist Evan Lucas told Dow Jones Newswires.
CMC Markets added: "The potential of an invasion in Ukraine sent investors scurrying for the exits as they find the slightest excuse to scale off profits."
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 139.81 points to 16 429.47.
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 18.78 to 1 920.21, while the Nasdaq Composite Index sank 31.05 to 4 352.84.
The drop follows heavy losses at the end of July, which saw the Dow shed its gains for the year in its worst week since January, and the S&P 500 record its biggest weekly decline since mid-2012.
Mace Blicksilver, director at Marblehead Asset Management, said of Tuesday's fall: "It's continuing the trend from last week."
He added that some pundits have predicted a possible drop of 10% or more in stocks. US stocks have avoided a correction on this scale for more than two years.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei was also affected by a slump in shares in SoftBank - one of the biggest constituents -which fell 3.50% to ¥6 972.0.
The drop followed reports the Japanese carrier's US unit Sprint is ending its pursuit of rival T-Mobile due to concerns about regulatory approval.
On foreign exchange markets Wednesday, the euro was hovering near an eight-month low against the dollar in Asia on speculation that the European Central Bank (ECB) would hint at further stimulus after a policy meeting.
The euro bought $1.3367 and ¥137.08 in Tokyo afternoon trade against $1.3369 and ¥137.20 in New York late on Tuesday.
The dollar was changing hands at ¥102.59 in Tokyo trade compared with ¥102.62 in New York trade Tuesday.
In oil trade, the benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for September delivery rose 10 cents to $97.48 while Brent crude gained 25c to $104.86 in afternoon trade.
Gold fetched $1 290.13 an ounce by 08:50 GMT compared with $1 292.10 late on Tuesday.
In other markets:
-Manila lost 25.03 to 6 948.97 points.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone slumped 2.10% to 3 084.00 pesos, while Alliance Global eased 0.18% to 27.60 pesos.
-Taipei edged up 2.53 to 9 143.97 points.
TSMC rose 0.84% to Tw$120.5 while Acer fell 2.06% t to Tw$23.75.
-Wellington fell 11.94 to 5 092.23 points.
Contact Energy down 0.90% at NZ$5.50 and Air New Zealand up 1.04% at NZ$1.94.
